Grimsby can help the 海角视频 to "recapture our spectacular natural marine wealth" according to the Prime Minister.
He was asked by the town’s MP Lia Nici about the industry’s future after Britain leaves the EU.
Boris Johnson told Parliament that Brexit would benefit Grimsby, and suggested she worked with the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to make the most of it.
Britain’s transition period from the EU is scheduled to end on January 1, 2021. There are no plans for the government to extend it despite the coronavirus outbreak.
In Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Nici asked: “I welcome the PM’s rejection of the extension to the Brexit transition period. Can I ask if he agrees with me that taking back control of our fishing waters in January 2021 will benefit the fishing communities within Grimsby?”
Mr Johnson responded: “It certainly will and we will become once again an independent coastal state. And I would urge her to engage with Defra to make sure the people of Grimsby can exploit the recapture of our spectacular natural marine wealth.”
When Mr Johnson visited Grimsby Fish Market to start the final week of his election campaign in December, he promised that Brexit would be “massive boost” to the fishing industry here but that “it’s going to require a concerted strategy to get it right and it won’t happen overnight”.
He also warned it could take “years” for the town to feel its former glory.
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In its heyday, Grimsby was the busiest fishing port in the world with hundreds of trawlers landing daily.
However, the industry has declined since then with some blaming regulations brought in by the European Union and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, with Iceland’s huge expansion of territorial waters also playing a part.
The past decade has seen the port emerge from a slumber to become the world’s leading offshore wind operations and maintenance hub, with crew transfer vessels sailing with the regularity of those trawlers as the biggest wind farms emerge off the East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coast.
There are hopes that leaving the EU will reinvigorate fishing in the port town.
Many North East Lincolnshire residents certainly thought so, backing Leave 70:30 in 2016’s EU referendum.
Grimsby also backed the Conservative candidate in December’s general election, ending a decades-long history as a Labour stronghold.
The seafood processing sector, the impressive 海角视频-leading legacy of the fishing days, has expressed concern over free movement of products and people - with up to a third of employees from eastern Europe. Iceland, together with Norway - the second largest exporter to Grimsby - are tied to the European Economic Agreement.
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The Prime Minister's December host, Grimsby Fish Dock Enterprises chief executive Martyn Boyers, said it "remains to be seen" how the town will fair, as it deals with a tough Covid recovery alongside potential Brexit upheaval.
Reliant on Iceland, supply has yet to return to 50 per cent of pre-lock down, roughly 2,500 boxes compared to 6,000 in recent weeks - with demand impacted by the catering industry staying largely closed. Auctions are interspersed with pre-sold town deliveries depending on volumes.
"Potentially, the goalposts have shifted," Mr Boyers said. "If this pandemic had come before we had the vote, it might have been different. All of Europe has had the same challenge, everyone has had to come through it. I think we need to work with our European colleages. Trade now is more important than ever before. We have got to get major businesses back, the airlines, get people out there spending."